Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

♪

- Ten casings so far.

- Holy Toledo.

- I'm not gonna bring you in here

if I don't know what I'm doing.

- Being the only female in the homicide squad,

it's just like a big family with a bunch of older brothers.

- From the beginning of my career,

I wanted to be in Homicide.

But one thing I don't do is I don't play games.

- I'm gonna solve my case.

- Across the United States, women make up

about 12% of all law enforcement.

Even fewer are homicide detectives.

- This is gonna make or break my case.

I got my fingers crossed.

- Over the years, the "First 48"

has followed several female detectives...

- I gotta find David Jennings' killer,

and now I gotta find out

why my four-year-old is acting up at school.

- As they work around the clock

to solve their cases.

- Come on. We're not idiots.

- I'm not a sweetie.

[dramatic music]

♪

- First up, from Memphis, Tennessee, is Caroline Mason.

- Homicide. Sergeant Mason.

♪

Yeah, girl. I can run in my heels, honey.

Either call a cab, or you need to man up.

Sergeant Mason will do whatever it takes

to catch a suspect.

♪

But Caroline Mason has never flown in a helicopter,

and is scared to death.

♪

- In her 30-plus years in Memphis police department,

the "First 48" documented several of her investigations.

She's a lieutenant colonel now, but when we followed her,

she was a sergeant in the homicide unit.

In this first case, Mason took on the murder

of a father of three who was shot in a car

in a liquor store parking lot.

After examining the crime scene...

- Looks like we got two empty shell casings on the inside.

- And eliminating a person of interest...

- Today, at approximately at 3:10, Mario Hampton was shot.

Are you the person responsible for his death?

- No, it wasn't me.

- Midway through the first day,

she didn't have much to go on.

[unsettling music]

♪

- Well, he wants me to be screwed

because he didn't solve it the other day.

It's just not gonna happen.

- I mean, right now...

- I'm not gonna be screwed. I'm gonna solve my case.

[tense music]

♪

male narrator: 18 hours in...

[phone ringing]

- Homicide. Sergeant Mason.

♪

And you were standing-- you were sitting outside

when the guys ran by after the shooting?

♪

- How are y'all doing? - Right here.

- What's your name?

Can we talk to you for just a moment?

♪

- Put his name in here.

- Just pulled up in, like, a click.

- Booyah. There's a hit.

There's my man. That's my suspect.

[suspenseful music]

♪

It's very important that at least one of these kids

are able to pick out Mr. Adrian Todd.

This is gonna make or break my case.

I got my fingers crossed.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

- OK.

♪

[foreboding music]

♪

- Yes, this is Sergeant Mason.

Can I speak with Adrian Todd?

♪

narrator: Sergeant Mason calls in Detective James Woods

to help her question Adrian.

- I wanna make him stay comfortable with me.

I'll be the good guy. Woods is gonna be the bad guy.

♪

- All right. [sighs]

All right. Here we go.

Let's see.

♪

I wanna talk to you about a homicide that happened.

You know what homicide is, right?

♪

It's a murder.

Death.

I'm gonna ask you to be honest with me, Adrian.

Don't take up a lot of my time, take up a lot of your time.

Do you know Mario Hampton?

You don't know Mario Hampton?

That's Mario.

- You sure?

- OK. Where did you go?

[quiet tense music]

narrator: Adrian says he visited his aunt after work.

On his way home, he says he had a traffic accident.

- You need to take your time and listen to my partner.

- I'm sorry.

- Your life is on the line, so you might wanna tell me

"I sneezed at the red light at Cazassa and Winchester."

narrator: Adrian admits that he was in the area

of the shooting that afternoon.

♪

- Let's start over. You agree with that, assistant?

- I agree with you. - OK.

- You should've started the day off with me, OK?

You told me you get off at 11:00.

- So what time you get to the liquor store?

♪

- You were there around about

the same time this killing happened.

I have people that saw you there, Adrian.

I've been a police officer 20 years

if I live to see November 16th.

You see what I'm saying? Since you was in a diaper.

I'm not gonna bring you in here if I don't know what I'm doing.

- [laughs]

- You don't know everything I have in here,

and you don't know everything I have in here.

♪

He pissed me off 'cause I hate being jacked around.

I know what the hell you did, OK?

You didn't do this [bleep] 3:00 in the morning.

You did this [bleep] at 2:00 in the [bleep] afternoon

on busy-ass, crackhead-ass corner,

Winchester and Cazassa,

where every [bleep] is walking the damn street.

You see what I'm saying? - And I didn't shoot him.

- You got a gun, man?

- I never owned a gun a day in my life.

- You know what I'm talking to you about?

Mario Hampton. That's all I wanna talk about.

You think about it.

"Do I wanna be honest with myself?"

But you sit here, and you think about it.

"Do I wanna sit here and take my mom and them

"through all this [bleep]?

Take my grandma and them through all this [bleep]?"

I'll be back.

♪

OK, I can't be the good cop no more.

I gotta go. We gotta roll with it.

I can't stand no [bleep]. - Mm-hmm.

- So I had to go and cut loose, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I asked for your help, but...

[melancholy music]

♪

narrator: Later, Adrian asks to speak to Sergeant Mason.

♪

- Sit here.

Did you request to speak with me again

to change your statement?

[dramatic music]

- On Wednesday, Mario Hampton was shot.

♪

Are you the person responsible for his death?

♪

♪

[sniffles]

narrator: Adrian says he was driving

when Mario Hampton cut him off in his car.

narrator: According to Adrian, Mario drove away,

but minutes later, Adrian saw Mario's car

outside the liquor store.

♪

♪

♪

♪

[sniffles, sobs]

[elevator chimes]

- Is there anything you want me to tell his family?

[elevator beeping]

- OK.

♪

- Adrian gave his life away that particular day.

The victim lost his life, and this guy

really lost his life as well, because he's lost his freedom.

♪

- For me, leaving my sons is the hardest part of the job.

- It's hard for homicide detectives

to balance work and family.

- I know they're both proud,

but I hate always running out.

It's the guilt.

[sighs deeply]

- In Cincinnati, Detective Jenny Luke

had to balance the demands of the job

with being a single mother of two young children.

[tense music]

♪

- Couldn't see anything. - Yeah, all right.

So far, all we know is the victim's a male, black,

approximately 20 years old.

narrator: Detective Sal Tufano, a New York native

who came to Cincinnati to join the force,

is Luke's partner.

[dramatic music]

♪

There's one bullet hole in the car.

♪

One broken window on the driver side.

We have a bullet hole on the driver side.

None of the other windows broken.

♪

narrator: Detectives learn the victim is David Jennings,

known as "De-De."

He was 20 years old.

- 5'11", 117?

I weigh twice as much as him.

- Do you know where he was shot?

- Shot once, left upper torso.

[indistinct radio chatter]

♪

- Let me guess. Everybody saw nothing.

- Nothing so far.

- How are you? - Fine.

- Crime Stoppers.

[suspenseful music]

♪

narrator: 50 yards away, detectives find shell casings.

[camera shutter clicks]

- We found ten casings so far. - Holy Toledo.

- And we can account for two of them.

- Well, he's not a very good shot,

because there's only one in the victim and one in the car.

- Right. - Yeah.

♪

- There's my witness that was in the car.

[tense music]

narrator: Responding officers tell detectives

there was a passenger in the car.

- Right over there. - OK.

narrator: They're holding him at Homicide.

♪

- Bye.

♪

This witness is gonna tell me a lot.

If he cares about his friend, he'll talk.

If he doesn't, he'll lie to us.

♪

OK, take me through your day. What do you guys do together?

- All right. - So...

- The witness says the victim

had beef with a man named Monterey.

- Monterey was spreading rumors

that De-De had snitched on him in a drug case.

- So Monterey thinks or may think that De-De set him up?

- Yeah. - OK.

- You guys are riding around, 'cause this happens at 11:00.

- Sometime.

- OK.

- OK.

♪

♪

♪

♪

De-De grab the wheel, grab the wheel.

[imitates tire squealing]

narrator: De-De tried to drive off.

Monterey fired six more rounds at the car.

♪

♪

- Right.

♪

- All right.

This is good.

This does not happen usually for us this fast.

♪

- Challenge is now-- we're gonna try and find out

who Monterey is.

[phone buttons beep]

♪

Hey, I need help. I'm working on...

- Tufano hopes the Cincinnati jail

will have Monterey's real name.

- All right, I'll talk to you later.

♪

- Monterey.

[printer running]

[cell phone rings]

Sal.

It's what? Spell it.

♪

M-I-L-I-A-R-A-Y.

Miliaray Torbert.

- Whoo!

If he's been arrested, he's on here with a picture.

In these...

♪

Yes! Got it!

♪

- [indistinct]

- That's him. That's him right there.

- All right.

Enough. We're good.

♪

- We're now looking for Miliaray Torbert.

- Wanted for homicide, 1250 East Clifton Avenue.

Miliaray Torbert, male, black, 20,

5'10", 150, black and brown.

[suspenseful music]

Suspect should be considered

armed and dangerous at this time.

♪

- Damn, I just got out of jail yesterday.

This crazy.

[tense music]

♪

- Kinda going on about four hours of sleep,

but depending on court and cases and kids

and stuff you got going on in your personal life,

you can't go home and sleep anyway,

even if you aren't here.

♪

I'll drink some more coffee and get revved up

for a long afternoon. [laughs]

♪

[ominous music]

♪

- Do you know De-De, David Jennings?

♪

♪

What is this all about?

- Well, De-De was killed last night up on East Clifton.

- You lying. - No, I'm--

wouldn't lie about that.

♪

Yesterday, were you staying with your girlfriend?

- Yeah.

I've been in the house all night.

- You weren't in the house all night.

I know for a fact that you rode up on East Clifton.

♪

- I was in the house all night. Never left.

♪

- Come on.

You--we're not idiots.

♪

OK? - I'm gonna tell you like this.

♪

I got out last night. Went up on East Clifton.

Kicked for a little while.

After I left, got a phone call.

- Well, Miliaray, that sucked.

I'm not even gonna lie. That was bad.

You--your lies are so bad right now.

[quiet tense music]

♪

We're really not gonna stay in here,

because quite frankly...

[sighs]

If you're not gonna help yourself,

I can't pull it from you.

- Well, you're not.

OK, all right.

narrator: After four hours of interrogation,

Miliaray sticks to his story.

♪

- We'd been in there forever.

I mean, what do you wanna do?

- You think we can let him stew for a little bit?

- Yeah.

- 'Cause I gotta go to this parent-teacher conference.

I'll try to be as quick as I can,

but I've gotta go. I can't miss this.

- Yeah, not at all. - OK, thanks.

♪

My son's acting up at school.

I gotta go find out what's going on with him.

I gotta completely change gears here.

Mommy mode. Mommy mode.

♪

See you later. I'll be back.

[elevator doors creak]

[tense music]

- All he needs is some time.

Hopefully, he's ready to-- he's ready to talk.

♪

So how'd it go?

- Kind of a wake-up call.

Mason's teacher told me that he's disrupting class.

Like, gonna have to sit down and talk to him

as soon as I get a chance.

- You always have this mean look when you get here.

I don't know why that is. - Not mean.

Being a single mom on this job is really hard.

♪

I feel so torn.

I feel guilty not being here when I need to be here,

and then I feel so guilty not being home with my boys,

and I just pray that they'll grow up and understand.

[inhales deeply]

I just--it just kills me.

♪

Well, let's see if Miliaray's ready to tell the truth now.

- OK. Let's get in there.

[tense music]

♪

- Tell us what happened.

If you can't explain your actions,

then all there is to say is

you are a cold-blooded, intentional killer.

♪

- I thought having you sit in here

and soul-search would help you.

And I think it has.

I can see it in your face.

You know what happened.

[tense music]

♪

♪

- OK.

♪

- I didn't know what they was gonna do to me

when they pulled up on me.

narrator: Miliaray says he thought De-De would retaliate

for being called a snitch.

- I felt like that if I didn't do nothing,

he was gonna actually do something to me.

That's how the boys play it down there or whatever.

It's either like, either you're gonna get me,

or I'm gonna get you first.

♪

- I'm going home.

Sal's gonna take care of all the paperwork for me.

I gotta get home and see my kids.

Sal is definitely my hero tonight.

[suspenseful music]

♪

[brisk tense music]

♪

- Being the only female in the homicide squad,

you spend a lot of time with these guys.

So, I mean, to me, it's-- it's just like a big family

with a bunch of older brothers.

At the end of the day, we all look out for each other.

- In Tulsa, Detective Dianna Baumann

spent seven years in the homicide unit.

In one fast-moving case, she worked the murder

of a young woman who was staying

with her fiancé's family

while they planned their wedding.

[dramatic music]

♪

- We are heading to go meet Sarge and the other guys.

♪

narrator: Lead Detective Dianna Baumann

is a mother of two.

Prior to joining Homicide four years ago,

she earned an award in the Child Crisis Unit

for her investigative work

on a multi-victim child abuse case.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[tense music]

♪

- What do we have here, Sarge?

- We've got a shotgun shooting of a 25-year-old white female.

- What's the victim's name?

- Amanda Day.

[insects chirring]

[plaintive music]

narrator: 25-year-old Amanda Day...

- Whoo!

narrator: Moved from Tennessee five years ago

to help raise her aunt's child.

♪

She leaves behind her parents,

siblings, and her fiancé.

♪

- There's other people inside the house.

They're downtown.

narrator: Amanda's fiancé and his mother

were in the house when she was shot.

♪

- Looks like this is probably gonna be domestic in nature.

Multiple people sharing the house.

Hopefully be able to find out what happened to her.

♪

[ominous music]

♪

- Harold comes up, wanting to smoke weed.

narrator: He says his uncle Harold

started beating on their bedroom door,

demanding marijuana.

- OK.

At what point do you see him again?

- He's standing out front of my door

with that 12-gauge like this.

♪

And then-- and then he shoots her.

♪

- Can you tell me what happened tonight and this morning?

- My brother shot my future daughter-in-law.

♪

He's coming down off of a dope run.

♪

narrator: Janet claims Harold was high on crystal meth.

- Probably been up for a couple days.

There's no telling who he's gonna shoot next.

♪

- Harold Brewer is the suspect.

[tense music]

♪

narrator: Harold Brewer is 49 years old,

with convictions for burglary and assault and battery.

♪

- [indistinct]

I have homicide suspect in custody.

♪

♪

- In Tulsa, just hours after the murder

of a young woman engaged to be married,

Detective Dianna Baumann had her suspect in custody,

the uncle of the victim's fiancé.

- Wow.

I figured he wouldn't be too far.

- Oh, you did not. - I did too.

I said he's in the neighborhood.

I kept saying that.

He's not gonna be very far. I did say that.

[laughter]

[tense music]

♪

Sit on the other side.

♪

Detective Baumann. This is Detective Ritter.

- [clears throat] - OK.

Now, do you wanna talk about what took place last night?

- Do you remember being at your sister's?

- Yeah.

- How long did you stay there?

Did you stay there all night?

- Mm-hmm.

- OK.

- Are you high or drunk or anything right now?

- No, sir. - OK.

When's the last time you used any drugs?

- Um...

- A couple weeks ago?

- OK.

Well, man, obviously there's a little more to this story.

- Well, I mean, we've talked to Robert.

- Yeah, we talked to Janet.

I mean, we talked to everybody, OK?

So look at me, man. Here's the deal.

We know what happened, OK?

The question is why?

- Oh, here we go. - Here it comes.

[suspenseful music]

- Harold.

Hey, man, look at me.

Look at me, bro.

- Why can't you look at me?

- It's all right to cry, man.

- We're not here to judge you.

We just wanna find out what's going on with you.

That way, we understand it.

♪

I mean, I didn't--

♪

- You shot her?

♪

- OK.

I mean, I-I don't think she had a gun.

- Listen to me.

That 270 was found in the closet in the hall.

♪

- Well...

♪

- OK.

Come on. - Yeah.

♪

Well, he's admitting to actually shooting her,

pulling the trigger, but he's done a lot of buffering

as to the circumstances.

In his mind, I think he's making it

not nearly as heinous as it was.

[low ambient music]

♪

Ready, Harold?

Know what you're getting booked for?

- [indistinct] - Murder.

Do you think it was OK to kill somebody?

♪

- I told you the truth.

♪

[quiet dramatic music]

♪

- I can't even imagine what her mother's going through.

I know having a daughter--

it's getting close to those years where the future seems

like it's wide open as far as careers, family, marriage.

It's a devastating blow.

You can't make sense of what happened.

But at least making an arrest of the suspect

gives the peace of knowing that he's off the street.

♪

[suspenseful music]

♪

- From the beginning of my career,

I wanted to be in Homicide.

- Our next detective is Tracy Casey from Atlanta.

She spent 15 years on the force

before becoming a homicide detective in 2014.

- I would always jump other people's calls

to come to the homicide scenes.

I knew the medical examiners, and they would test me.

I really wanted to learn.

♪

- A year and a half after joining the squad,

Casey led the investigation into the murder of a young man

shot at an apartment complex.

♪

- There's nothing to the scene, just the body.

- Gotcha. - It's in the doorway.

- One male victim, shot to the back.

- All right.

[faint indistinct chatter]

[melancholy music]

♪

narrator: Residents said the victim

was fighting with someone just before the shooting.

- OK. - So far his nickname,

"Lil Whootie," has been thrown out.

- "Lil Whootie"?

- "Lil Whootie" shoots him in the back

with a sawed-off shotgun.

And he takes off running. - OK.

So Lil Whootie is known around here?

both: Yes. - OK.

[unsettling music]

♪

They're out here, arguing.

Lil Whootie walks inside. Then he comes out with a gun.

narrator: According to a witness,

the suspect got the gun

in the apartment next door to the victim's.

- It's the owner of the property.

Think I'm gonna call.

♪

And soon, he'll give me

some information on my shooter.

I got a lot of questions.

How you doing?

I'm Investigator Casey, with Atlanta Police, Homicide.

- Yes, sir.

OK, the gun came out your house.

Whose gun is that?

- Let me explain something to you.

- I'm not trying to get you hemmed up in this at all.

But one thing I don't do is I don't play games.

- Now you keep it 100 with me, I keep it 100 with you.

That gun came from your house.

♪

♪

- OK. What's Lil Whootie's name?

- I'm not a sweetie.

- Look in your phone and give me his phone number.

- So where's the phone that his number is in?

- Call your wife.

- Ma'am.

- What is-- what's Whootie's real name?

♪

- All right. Thank you so much.

Do me a favor. Slide back for me.

Did the gun come from your house?

- Now I'm talking to you straight up, one-on-one,

like two grown-ass folk.

I'm talking to you like a human being,

and you're gonna lie to me?

- No, too late now, bro.

♪

[tense music]

♪

Berhalter? - Yes?

- You wanna see the video?

♪

So they're fighting now.

So it's mutual combat. - Yeah.

♪

- And he just walks away.

So he got embarrassed. - He's--he's mad.

He--he's mad as hell. Look at him.

All this right there.

♪

See, now he's opening the door.

♪

narrator: The suspect goes into the apartment

next to the victim's.

- Now he mushed the door.

- That's it. That's what pissed him off.

- There it is.

♪

- Damn.

- Hit him right in the back.

- Yeah, definitely no self-defense or...

- Uh-uh.

♪

- Interrogations are challenging

for any investigator.

The rapport established with the suspect

can change the outcome of an investigation.

In this case, Casey took a different approach.

- Tyrone.

I need you to take a few deep breaths for me.

♪

♪

- How are you protecting yourself or what?

He ain't touched you.

- But he didn't put his hands on you no more.

You ain't nowhere near him.

♪

You walked up here, you raised that gun,

and aimed it at him and pulled that trigger.

You assumed that he was turning to do something,

but in actuality, what he was doing was running from you.

♪

- OK. So you didn't see a gun.

- Now you telling the truth.

[melancholy music]

♪

- [sniffles]

♪

- I mean, does-- really does anybody?

[sobbing]

- Tyrone, do me a favor.

Put your hand on your heart for me.

Do you feel it?

You feel it beating? - [sniffles]

- Yes, you took someone's life, but guess what?

You still have a life.

Now, you can go into this prison,

you can get yourself rehabilitated.

Stay out of trouble. Find God again.

And you will be fine.

I have nephews in prison.

Trust me. Please understand.

Your life is not over unless you end it.

[sighs]

- Tyrone, I'ma tell you this.

You just snatched something away from somebody else.

Can we think about him for me?

- He's not gonna have a marriage.

He's not gonna have grandchildren.

He's not gonna breathe again.

He's not gonna be able to watch television.

♪

- You made a mistake, and unfortunately,

that mistake took someone's life.

And people do it every day.

You got officers that do it, you got citizens that do it,

and they feel bad about it.

'Cause you're a human being and you got heart.

♪

My job here is to make sure that the family gets closure,

your family gets closure. There's no winners in this.

Taking someone's life is something serious.

♪

I think you made a mistake.

And I think you can be redeemed from it.

And like I said,

every single time you feel like it's too late,

you put your hand on your heart and you feel your heartbeat.

It's not too late.

- [sniffles, sighs]

♪

- You know, people today--

they are looking at things on television.

They're very desensitized.

Think that when they pull out guns and they do this,

they really don't realize that you are actually

taking someone's life away,

and they'll never come back again.

♪

I think it's now sinking in that he did something bad,

really bad, and he can't hide from it.

Mr. Curry. - How you doing, sir?

- You ready?

All right, come on, now.

Remember what I told you.

[plaintive music]

♪

[faint radio chatter]

- Sit in there, Tyrone.

Turn your back toward me.

- Thanks for the talking.

- Listen, you're gonna be all right, OK?

You just remember what I told you.

- Yes, ma'am. - All right.

You take care. - Yes, ma'am.

♪